Microsoft Corporate Forum

Microsoft Germany has announced the launch of its Bing Maps Streetside service, a competitor to Google's Street View, which launched in November 2010 after many months of controversy in Germany.

"We have a plan for the next 18 months for about 50 cities in Germany," said Thomas Baumgärtner, a spokesperson for Microsoft Germany, in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

He added that the first cars, which are also being sent out in collaboration with the mapping company Navteq, will be sent to survey the streets of the Bavarian cities of Nuremberg, Fürth, Erlangen and Augsburg starting on May 9.

The Streetside service first launched in December 2009 in the United States and some parts of Canada.